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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Current Affairs and News about Syria

Syrian rebels to discuss military needs as US weighs options:-The Hindu

The Syrian opposition was to meet in Istanbul with
representatives of Western and Arab countries to assess the rebels’
military needs as the US weighs its options on military support.

Louay
Mokdad of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Saturday, “Military
chief General Selim Idriss will discuss with the various representatives
the needs of the rebels and give an assessment of the military
situation inside Syria.” U.S. President Barack Obama will use next
week’s G8 summit to explain his new support for arming Syrian rebels,
while lobbying Russia to help press Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to
step aside, the White House said on Friday.

The
United States on Thursday reversed its long-standing Syria policy
limiting aid to non-lethal assistance, and said it would begin sending
military support to moderates among the rebels, after accusing Damascus
of having used chemical weapons.

Syria and its ally,
Russia, reacted negatively to both the accusation of chemical weapons
use and to the plan to send military aid...........Read More......

U.S. says political solution to Syria conflict in jeopardy:- Al Arabiya

The use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces and the
involvement of Hezbollah fighters show President Bashar al-Assad's lack
of commitment to negotiations and threaten to “put a political
settlement out of reach,” the U.S. State Department said on Saturday,
citing comments by Secretary of State John Kerry.

The State Department issued a statement after Kerry spoke with Iraq's foreign minister.

“The secretary reaffirmed that the United States continues to work
aggressively for a political solution with the goal of a second Geneva
meeting, but that the use of chemical weapons and increasing involvement
of Hezbollah demonstrates the regime's lack of commitment to
negotiations and threatens to put apolitical settlement out of reach,”
the department said.......Read More......

White House: Syria crosses 'red line' with use of chemical weapons on its people:- CNN

Syria has crossed a "red line" with its use of chemical weapons,
including the nerve agent sarin gas, against rebels, a move that is
prompting the United States to increase the "scale and scope" of its
support for the opposition, the White House said Thursday.

The acknowledgment is the
first time President Barack Obama's administration has definitively
said what it has long suspected -- that President Bashar al-Assad's
forces have used chemical weapons in the ongoing civil war.

"The intelligence
community estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from detected
chemical weapons attacks in Syria to date; however, casualty data is
likely incomplete," Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for
strategic communications, said in a statement released by the White
House..........Read More......